Flourish or Fail Through Image
By: Brigid O’Connor
Perceptions. Customers rely on them when determining effectiveness as service providers, and prospective clients see them as clues to talent or lack thereof. Image matters. It’s a gray concept, but image undeniably plays a role in every business. What is image, exactly? Image is a mental impression held in common by members of a group. What mental impression does your agency evoke?
Image differentiates. Communications channels are insanely full, yet your agency depends on them to disseminate its messages. Your company’s image is much like the packaging of a product. Packaging offers clues about the product, and your firm’s image offers clues about its efficacy. Research shows that packaging weighs heavily in buyers’ purchase decisions. Whether you are selling your agency’s services to prospective clients, reassuring current clients that your coverage has value or convincing job candidates that they want to work at your company, you have to force the message through a packed channel. Hence your packaging—or image—matters.
An appropriate image can bolster a firm in bad times. Image has a serious impact on customer perceptions. Research shows that a company with a good image can survive the occasional customer who complains about a bad service experience. But even the best image can’t survive repeated bad service experiences—it will erode. If your firm already has a poor image, your clients react more negatively to bad service. A negative image presents a formidable roadblock as you struggle to communicate in a fiercely competitive marketplace.
Just like product packaging, your agency’s image must reflect reality. If the packaging indicates that laundry soap is inside, customers don’t expect to find cat litter. A carefully constructed and consistent image helps a business flourish only if people’s experiences of the firm are congruent with the image. If you portray your organization as open, friendly and inviting, yet put a cranky receptionist at the front desk, the discrepancy will thwart success. Image must reflect your firm’s true nature, not a version based on wishful thinking.
Effective images are more about those on the receiving end than those doing the sending. Hence, verify that your image resembles the impression our audiences have of it. Some firms might believe they convey an understated image—but the audience sees them as boring. Many organizations rely on symbolism in logos and taglines, but too often the symbolism is lost on audiences that aren’t in the know. A successfully positioned firm conjures a distinct image at the mention of its name. Image also can magnetize a firm to attract coveted clients. The most obvious examples are companies that seek customers with high net worth. Communicate with these prospects using quality letterhead and precise, engaging, grammatically correct language. Make your image work for you.
Brigid O’Connor (b_oconnor@earthlink.net) is a strategist for AtEase, LLC, which helps individuals and organizations communicate with efficiency and purpose.
Carrier Branding Connection: MMG
MMG Insurance Company can trace its insurance roots back more than 100 years to its origin in Houlton, Maine as the Aroostook County Patrons Mutual Fire Insurance Company. The company, which started out insuring property for fire and lightening damage, has encountered many branding obstacles in its 111-year history, but that hasn’t kept it from growing.
The most recent branding challenge for the company occurred in 2002 when it decided to change its name from Maine Mutual to MMG Insurance Company to MMG.
“We definitely had reservations,” says Larry Shaw, CEO and president of MMG. “We have some factions that really liked our old logo and going by that Maine Mutual name…What we were trying to focus on is what our values were and how we wanted to be seen as a company moving forward.”
During the transition, the MMG adopted the slogan, “Same people. Same promise.” The phrase seemed to work to reassure independent agents and MMG customers.
Shaw says MMG believes success means living the brand and part of that includes being a Trusted Choice® company partner. The company uses the partnership to promote the strength of the independent agency system via its TV and radio advertising efforts and print brochures.
“We’re big believers in independent agency system,” Shaw says. “We promote Trusted Choice® logo on all marketing materials that get out to our agents and policy holders and when we talk about our company in any setting we make sure we appropriately value what Trusted Choice® stands for.”
Image differentiates. Communications channels are insanely full, yet your agency depends on them to disseminate its messages. Your company’s image is much like the packaging of a product. Packaging offers clues about the product, and your firm’s image offers clues about its efficacy. Research shows that packaging weighs heavily in buyers’ purchase decisions. Whether you are selling your agency’s services to prospective clients, reassuring current clients that your coverage has value or convincing job candidates that they want to work at your company, you have to force the message through a packed channel. Hence your packaging—or image—matters.
An appropriate image can bolster a firm in bad times. Image has a serious impact on customer perceptions. Research shows that a company with a good image can survive the occasional customer who complains about a bad service experience. But even the best image can’t survive repeated bad service experiences—it will erode. If your firm already has a poor image, your clients react more negatively to bad service. A negative image presents a formidable roadblock as you struggle to communicate in a fiercely competitive marketplace.
Just like product packaging, your agency’s image must reflect reality. If the packaging indicates that laundry soap is inside, customers don’t expect to find cat litter. A carefully constructed and consistent image helps a business flourish only if people’s experiences of the firm are congruent with the image. If you portray your organization as open, friendly and inviting, yet put a cranky receptionist at the front desk, the discrepancy will thwart success. Image must reflect your firm’s true nature, not a version based on wishful thinking.
Effective images are more about those on the receiving end than those doing the sending. Hence, verify that your image resembles the impression our audiences have of it. Some firms might believe they convey an understated image—but the audience sees them as boring. Many organizations rely on symbolism in logos and taglines, but too often the symbolism is lost on audiences that aren’t in the know. A successfully positioned firm conjures a distinct image at the mention of its name. Image also can magnetize a firm to attract coveted clients. The most obvious examples are companies that seek customers with high net worth. Communicate with these prospects using quality letterhead and precise, engaging, grammatically correct language. Make your image work for you.
Brigid O’Connor (b_oconnor@earthlink.net) is a strategist for AtEase, LLC, which helps individuals and organizations communicate with efficiency and purpose.
Carrier Branding Connection: MMG
MMG Insurance Company can trace its insurance roots back more than 100 years to its origin in Houlton, Maine as the Aroostook County Patrons Mutual Fire Insurance Company. The company, which started out insuring property for fire and lightening damage, has encountered many branding obstacles in its 111-year history, but that hasn’t kept it from growing.
The most recent branding challenge for the company occurred in 2002 when it decided to change its name from Maine Mutual to MMG Insurance Company to MMG.
“We definitely had reservations,” says Larry Shaw, CEO and president of MMG. “We have some factions that really liked our old logo and going by that Maine Mutual name…What we were trying to focus on is what our values were and how we wanted to be seen as a company moving forward.”
During the transition, the MMG adopted the slogan, “Same people. Same promise.” The phrase seemed to work to reassure independent agents and MMG customers.
Shaw says MMG believes success means living the brand and part of that includes being a Trusted Choice® company partner. The company uses the partnership to promote the strength of the independent agency system via its TV and radio advertising efforts and print brochures.
“We’re big believers in independent agency system,” Shaw says. “We promote Trusted Choice® logo on all marketing materials that get out to our agents and policy holders and when we talk about our company in any setting we make sure we appropriately value what Trusted Choice® stands for.”
— Michelle Payne
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